Bhubaneswar, Jan 1: Dense fog severely disrupted operations at Bhubaneswar’s Biju Patnaik International Airport on Thursday morning, bringing air traffic almost to a standstill and leaving hundreds of passengers stranded. Thick, pea-soup-like fog enveloped the airport, allowing only one flight to take off, while several others were grounded on the runway for hours.

According to airport sources, at least five flights were diverted due to extremely poor visibility. Of these, three flights were diverted to Raipur and two to Kolkata. The affected flights were arriving from major cities including Delhi, Chennai and Bengaluru, causing inconvenience to passengers traveling to and from Odisha.

Bhubaneswar Airport Director Prasanna Pradhan said visibility dropped drastically to around 50 metres at about 6.30 am, making flight operations unsafe. Under standard aviation norms, a minimum visibility of 550 metres is required for aircraft to take off or land safely at the airport.

The dense fog also resulted in significant delays. The Bhubaneswar–Dehradun flight, scheduled to depart at 6 am, finally took off at around 10 am. Airport authorities have advised passengers to check updated flight schedules before leaving for the airport, as foggy conditions are expected to continue and may further impact operations.

Powered by Froala Editor